three. three. three. three broadcast quality video for your media project a free video to r.t. dot com. bahrain slashes the sentences for dozens of anti-government activists where human rights groups call it a half measure and western states avert their gaze. for children are killed as a car bomb explodes and hits a school bus near damascus well there's no news of the ukrainian journalist kidnapped in syria. and the u.k.'s northeast feels the financial pinch even is the country scrambles out of recession with layoffs and regional regeneration.

broadcasting live from moscow twenty four hours a day this is r.t. . now bahrain has cut the sentences for dozens of people who took part in anti-government rallies last year when the move has failed to satisfy the activists who are calling for the release of all political prisoners human rights groups in the kingdom to stop using tear gas and torture interrogations and its crackdown on public gatherings. looks at who benefits from the two year unrest. when it came to supporting calls for democracy in middle eastern and north african states while denouncing government sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical from our graphic has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave out of a very clear message for president which is it is time for him to go but when scenes

of violent clashes between riot police and reform company risk came from bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and rhetoric softened. in the summer of the us state department came up with a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months but now stop arming the killers is a message they are more often sending out to the west somehow the in bahrain blood is worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just critical a stand so he had youssif often travels to europe to direct attention to what he believes to be brutal repression in his country he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organizations but that's as far as it goes months ago. clinton made

a statement about bahrain about the human rights situation in bahrain and this. one protester was killed you know and show you that there is no impact on the ground we are a victim and behind because we live in a country they condemn the violence committed by the bahraini government against the peaceful protests there and beheading but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops the seemingly irreversible decision made decades ago despite a growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors. anything happens in the bush era plan or any of the other plans that there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are or are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies and

officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain but even the bahraini government's information minister suggests the us main fact be playing a double game. i think the bahraini opposition is a key ally of the u.s. leader of the opposition and the terrorist members of the opposition have close ties with foreign embassies in bahrain we can leak some of the old many documents proving it if this is true then washington sitting comfortably it can quickly switch sides but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why goals to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others like see russia ski r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain four people have died in a car bombing near the syrian capital damascus when a vehicle exploded in there a busy crossing another ten people were injured when most of the victims are reported to be students and another terror attack a much larger one targeting

a school has been thwarted in the country's northeast where the details of the first moment in the region there. was apparently behind these latest incidents. well the information we have at the moment is coming from syrian state media we are hearing that some four people have been killed and ten people injured in an explosion of a booby trapped car in damascus now we understand that most of the people who have killed and injured are students in a separate incident the authorities managed to uncover a truck loaded with some three tons of explosives in the north a managed to dismantle those before any kind of incidents occurred there have been numerous incidents throughout today and the last few days through the army rebels and through the army troops and the rebels fighting one another we're also hearing reports that the troops managed to destroy a number of rebel vehicles as well as missile launches at the same time they've

reported that they managed to prevent rebel attacks on checkpoints in numerous villages but certainly the overall since is that the violence is continuing country doing a lot of its interest in the capital city of damascus but a lot of it extremely concerning and paula it's not just civilians caught in the crossfire of the twenty one month old conflict but also media workers we understand . so the media workers are in the firing line particularly when it comes to rebels taking journalists hostage a second deadline has expired for the capture of a ukrainian journalist who's been held by a rebel group which was taken back in october there was already one deadline put in terms of when a ransom of some fifty fifty fifty million u.s. dollars needed to be paid that has not been paid a second deadline passed earlier just yesterday that too was must now there have been at least two you tube videos that have been posted by the free syrian army

with material and with statements made by her we're hearing from the ukrainian foreign ministry that it has been holding talks over her release but that they haven't released any kind of details on this now the rebels on no strangers to kidnapping foreigners there are two russian workers in syria who were also taken hostage last week and the russian government is now trying to secure their release and there was just recently an n.b.c. news crew who recently escaped after being held for several days by rebels who were for him even with execution the mounting violence in syria comes against the backdrop of and it's elation of the information war that is happening in the country the rebels have continued in posting videos of alleged massacres that they've been carrying out massacres in which they blame assad and his loyalists now the damascus regime has always insisted that it is the rebels who are responsible for these killings russia two says that the rebels are trying to provoke foreign

intervention by posting such videos moscow stressing the fact that such information is hard to come through and must be verified before any kind of conclusion can be made in addition to this the rebels themselves have been blamed for committing atrocities some of the videos that are being posted online showed gruesome scenes there is one particular scene where a child is apparently being forced by the rebels to the head assad loyalists but again the point needs to be made that all these kinds of videos almost impossible to verify. ok artie's middle east correspondent thank you well the international peace envoy for syria has been urging the creation of a transitional government to run the country until elections are held it was reportedly discussed behind closed doors in moscow where visiting syrian delegation is said to be ready to agree to the plan. going off has more it may be as big as the long awaited breakthrough in the syrian conflict there's speculation that

syrians may have brought a groundbreaking peace plan now. after international. who's been trying to call both sides to put their weapons down he met with president on monday. later said that he had a positive feeling and that something good was going on according to speculation they may have discussed a peaceful transition of power which may include forming a transitional government with representatives from both the syrian authorities and the opposition. is expected in the russian capital also on saturday moscow has a good chance of mediating it's been in contact with the syrian authorities and with the opposition unlike most western countries who denounce president and the syrian government as the official power in the country the u.k. is on the tentative road to recovery but parts of the country are not sharing in

the turnaround people in britain's poorest region the northeast are still feeling the pinch there are three times more attempted suicides there than in the london area sara first went to see why the situation looks and break. as he'll saying impressing gays it's grim up north it's a perception of life in some of the nation's other major cities recessions hit the case hard it's been in the northeast where it's been felt particularly acutely. recession and that is right down in here i mean you know the very people who are living on the poverty line trade union leader about scott's furious with the government's decision to close sunderland's rempel a factory it's a government venture that began back in the nine hundred forty s. to provide employment the people with disabilities two weeks before christmas the government announced that they're going to close the package in factories and it

leaves a very bleak uncertain future for disabled workers killer stops was laid off from another rempel a factory back in april and accuses the government of forcing people out of paid jobs and on to a life of welfare we were told in the week before we left three. jobs . yeah in fact just four people from his old factory found a job it's not the first time the northern workers have felt the first hand of a conservative government back in the one nine hundred eighty s. and the miners' strike and the margaret thatcher became a symbol of a divided nation this mining village in the living museum in the northeast gives us a snapshot of the past nearly three decades since margaret thatcher and her conservative government crushed the miners' unions the impact that her policies had on the north east was extreme and long felt and even today there are many people

who still have a deep mistrust of the conservative government the conservatives reputation up here is one that's hard to shake and it makes it hard for them to get a fair hearing on any plans to regenerate so to find out more we decided it was time to pay a visit to number ten i was shocked at the level of understanding on the conservative benches of how people who live in. the north east. very often and i think they have a completely different view of how people's lives of the government are accused of not understanding the north but isn't that your job to represent the things to be a fair bit of bickering that goes on among northern m.p.'s. i mean having an accent in the house of commons you know i've got quite happy ducks and but that sort of you get sneers when you have an accent and you speak in the commons from the

government benches so that in itself is just an example of how the mismatch between the two sides of the government insists it's treating grace in the area seriously and his earmarks money infrastructure projects targeting the northeast in particular but a legacy of let downs has left many northerners less than and see what we're saying is. this is going to happen this is. one of the. it's a complete shambles so you all in it together or a nation divided one thing seems. that with many predicting an increase in unemployment and a triple dip recession for the day the challenge of the year ahead looks to be testing times for everyone so. ban on americans adopting russian kids is about to be signed into law president

putin is ready to put pen to paper and sponsor to washington sanctioning russian officials to bring it. back at. his groundbreaking interview exclusively on our view of one of the main stories of twenty twelve after a short break. the

people at u.c. berkeley were nice enough to give away a million dollars in scholarships for everyone everyone that's an illegal immigrant yeah that's right if you're born in america then pay till you die but jump the border and enjoy the red carpet education treatment the people who would be getting the scholarships are mostly the children of illegal immigrants who spent many of their formative years in america and yeah i could see the logic that could be hard for them to get an education when the when they aren't citizens but they came into the country illegally it isn't taxpayers jobs to help them but wait berkeley is a private institution so i guess they can give out the money to whoever they want whenever they want however they want but berkeley management if you're watching this i would really appreciate if you chose some financial mercy to american citizens it isn't like they don't need the help but that's just my opinion.

without any more well news for you now president of a man has confirmed he'll sign a ban preventing u.s. citizens from adopting russian children will make a say it targets what they call america's ignorant treatment towards those who let russian children suffer when it has more on president putin's agenda. he says

that he doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't sign it but he did mention that he should take one very close careful look at the final draft of this law on top of that however within has also mentioned that he is ready to sign. a law which would increase the protection of russian children in the country itself now the law bears the name of this was a young boy who was adopted by an american family and died while in custody of his new adoptive father now the father was left off with just a fine after leaving his young son in a car in the blistering heat for hours the car was parked outside of his office and it's the cases precisely like this that the russian lawmakers say that the american law system is not is not cut out to provide enough security for the russian children who are being adopted by american parents and should another tragedy like

this strike they don't want the russian children to suffer now a lot of people see this as they get back at the americans for the magnitsky act the so-called act which entails a list of people who are prohibited from ever entering the united states and their financial assets in the country also are frozen now now that the minister was a russian lawyer who was imprisoned on charges of tax evasion and died while in custody that case has never seen any any logical conclusion and it is not quite possible at this point to say whether or not the people who are accused of being involved in the case are actually at fault and should be blamed for his death. france has refused to help the central african republic fight off rebels closing in on its capital president francois hollande is only protecting its own interests and not the regime of local protesters angry a turn like of action attacked the french embassy where the once freeman of

executive intelligence review magazine says it's part of the post clue new fallout . these developments do not occur overnight this has been brewing for years the french are playing a very bad role and if they get become militarily involved again in the central african republic that's not going to help for african countries are going to have to move in and saudi's brown i think the french have a right about tapping their embassy but beyond that if they become no tell you it's not going to be helpful to the central african republic or any of the neighboring countries of the c.l.r. what's going on there is what's been going on in most of the countries in their region which is that you have very unstable governments these countries have never become sovereign the colonial powers france and to be require power grid and have kept their finger on the resources of these countries and they basically have never allowed these countries to develop for government whence and they would develop the country for the people economically. u.k.

is now accused of supplying the kits to spy on human rights activists in bahrain and other countries with oppressive regimes and well british surveillance technology has reportedly been sold across the globe and it's capable of intercepting any kind of data find out more nazis websites. but also online. russia's main muslim spiritual leader was shot dead in the north caucasus with details on the targeted attack and to watch he don't come. i. believe that he would speak. to.

her. when i was. able to leave good legal. and legal. document that i really. feel. doctors and nurses once again on the streets calling for plans to privatized hospitals to be scrapped striking for a fifth week in a row metal workers are also angry about possible layoffs where many still unsure whether their contracts will be renewed next year spain's government says the cuts are needed to maintain the health service through session countries regions an

estimated one hundred forty five. your position in egypt has dismissed president mercy's calls for dialogue i mean he hasn't offered any real substance on wednesday merci delivered his first national address of the signing in the new charter hailing it is paving the road to democracy however the opposition insists the new constitution allows the islamic majority to form a dictatorship meanwhile egypt's prosecutor has ordered an investigation into claims the opposition wanted to overthrow the regime. newly elected japanese government plans to revise the decision to phase out nuclear power by twenty forty the new prime minister declared sustained economic growth was his top priority and said rejecting nuclear energy could undermine one of the country's biggest areas of expertise last year an earthquake and in searing tsunami brought the fukushima nuclear power plant close to disaster forcing thousands of people out

from this because of leaking radiation. and militants in pakistan have killed two policemen in the northwest of the country and reportedly kidnapped twenty one others dozens of gunmen armed with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two police post in an area near to what's considered the taliban insurgent stronghold government officials say an operation to try and rescue the security personnel is underway. the afghan foreign ministry says the country has lost more than seventy million dollars in tax because foreign firms linked to nato are not paying their dues therefore it says tax dodgers rely on the u.s. to keep karpal off their backs political analyst and former afghan n.p.t. sultanzoy says local politicians are equally to blame what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence

in this country they signed deals exempting some of these companies we were dealing with nieto and i said and then. many other companies came and started. carpetbagging in backpacking. illegitimate gains in never paid taxes this is not new and this government will never have the guts to collect taxes from those rogue companies just then. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have never paid any taxes they've never paid even landing fees in some cases they haven't paid or flayed fees this is just aviation you can imagine in other fields of commerce in. fuel and transportation and logistics and security in other arenas in all arenas there are hundreds of millions of dollars

every year there are scaping and this government also sometimes gives them some reprieve by reducing their taxes and exchange for bribes. twenty twelve draws to a close we continue to look at the events that shaped it today our news teams recall the launch of julian assange broadcast exclusively here on r.t. and we can expand gave voice to prominent figures shunned by the mainstream media why he was still under house arrest in london. it was right on the new year's eve when i went to london to see june and to discuss the news so. i'm julie in the sun.

it's true when she wakes we've exposed the world secret police documents from the very beginning and became the a high profile show state strong with a lot of its as a boss or so we created this web page with big video player and video feeds containing trailers deezer is sneak peeks most shows tend to have a spike and then go down to both mars itself on one view with you keep climbing it and quite a lot of study about it i think the beauty story said this was quite an important piece of the julian assange show gains over a one million visits and views online and believe me or an interesting news show it's kind of an achievement but never before that we had anything like that on t.v. when one person sitting on the house the rapture would give voice to quiet quite a few people around the world whose position of the world doesn't fit in the

mainstream you to picture. well coming up next after a short break a max and stacey expose the dark secrets of global finance stay with us. the sun rises over what seems like analyst forest but here in the new directions crime hundred kilometers north of light of all stalk as in much of the world it's disappearing at a catastrophic rate. mortgages both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system for filing down the forest of the police region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an

ecological crisis we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy to forests. and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find solid tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander someone in ca has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible to find human dramatics and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that they've twelve's the tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer. to. this team says they're legal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done he is

overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the promote the region and the w w f says the government isn't doing enough to stop it. no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone what will the people who live after. it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change in the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start. to people living in harmony says nature. welcome to the kaiser report by max kaiser so.